


look how they shine for you

by singalellaby



Series: There were four in the bed [2]
Category: Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Marvel (Comics)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, OT4, things that were posted on tumblr first
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-19
Updated: 2012-12-19
Packaged: 2017-11-21 14:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/598750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singalellaby/pseuds/singalellaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We may have to reinforce the moratorium on ‘No work in the bedroom, yes, Tony, that means even that one little wiring project too’ again.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	look how they shine for you

“No, Stark, I fucking mean it, don’t you—Tony, fuck _off_ , I just want to brush my teeth, my toothbrush is fine as it is— _put down the screwdriver, Tony_.”

Steve felt the bone-fine tremor through Carol’s frame that was her suppressing a laugh, that and the way her breath gusted over the part of him that was both shoulder and chest and flat wing of muscle all at once. Casting a rueful look towards the half-ajar door of the bathroom…yup, scuffling. Definitely scuffling in there. “No powers,” he called out (mostly for Jess, in all honesty, since Tony wasn’t in the suit, and all Avengers needed reminding of that rule more frequently than he would have liked) and Carol gave him a Look that meant she was amused by him never quite letting go of being the team’s leader. Even here, even now.

“We may have to reinforce the moratorium on ‘No work in the bedroom, yes, Tony, that means even that one little wiring project too’ again,” she said and yawned, resettling her head where it was tucked neatly underneath his chin. Her hair tickled, but he couldn’t quite find it in himself to be properly bothered by it.  
“Right.” He paused and resisted the urge to squirm a little guiltily. “…so I guess that means running an idea for a flanking manoeuvre that I had past you is off the cards then.” Because Tony’s intelligence dwarfed his own and Jess had a wiry, indomitable sort of cunning that he had yet to properly quantify, but Carol was the one with the military background, like him, but more modern. His best ideas tended to be ones he’d bounced off her first, and if they sometimes occurred to him when they were out of uniform (or just out of _clothes_ in general) then, well…

Her laughter definitely tickled that time and Carol’s head butted insistently up into his hand, the one that had stilled in her hair when Tony had first started bothering Jess. Out of habit, he picked up the motion again, something etched into his muscle memory by now, the same way he thought his fingertips would always remember the rough silk of her hair, even when it was still damp from the shower the way it was now. She subsided when the carding action resumed, made a satisfied noise and stretched languidly against him. “That doesn’t count.”

“No?”

“Nope.” Carol radiated smugness even as she hid a yawn in his shoulder. “ _We’ve_ never broken anything.”

That was true. They had, however, proved themselves not to be above yelling matches. The first time Carol had properly screamed at him and then stormed off, Tony’s eyes had been bigger than Steve had ever seen them go before. Jess, on the other hand, had just looked knowing and a little bit proud before following. No breakages though, not the way that Jess and Tony’s little spats-turned-physical did, given their seeming incapability to occur without some small, fragile object going to an early grave. 

“…so, flanking manoeuvre then?” Carol snorted and burrowed down a little more insistently into his arms, just as cuddly as Tony could be, but less octopus-like. Steve smiled, gently, down at that blonde head and continued carefully pulling his fingers through the drying waves of gold. “Are you even awake? Capable of coherent thought? You know Tony takes bliss-comas as an opportunity for a surprise attack.”

“Shh. Listen.”

And Steve did, cocking his head to one side and, well, it didn’t take serum-enhanced hearing to notice the distinct _lack_ of irritated snarking coming from the bathroom now. “Oh.” That just about summed it up, in all honesty. “They got the yelling part over with faster than normal. Do you think—.”

He was silenced, most effectively, by a shifting armful of Carol and then she was all up in his face, grinning and sleepy and wicked-looking in a way that he knew she’d picked up from either Jess or Tony. “And _that’s_ what I call a flanking manoeuvre,” she told him, looking smug even as he belatedly brought his arms up around her, his hands spanning the deep, double-bass curve of her, fingers fitting into the dimples at the small of her back as if he’d put them there herself when she’d been made out of clay and the heart of a sun. _Her_ arms looped around his neck and it was his turn to feel fingers run through his hair – so much shorter than hers, but close enough in shade that he _knew_ Tony got some weird kick out of it. 

“Hey,” he murmured, effectively distracted, tilting his head slightly to allow her better access. It felt good; no wonder she was kept content for as long as he had the hand free to do this to her.

“Hey yourself,” Carol drawled back and shifted in his lap in a way that was most mind-occupying. Her full mouth lifted up at one corner in a crooked smirk as she inclined her head towards the bathroom and the shifting, pale shapes moving interestingly in the blurred reflection of the fogged up mirror. “They’ll remember we’re here. Eventually. When they’re done ‘fighting’ about toothbrushes and Tony’s appalling concept of personal property.” Trust Carol to know, at heart, what it was that Jess had been objecting to. “Until then…”

Steve could feel her heartbeat through her ribcage, where his palms cupped the swell of her sides. Even now, after all this time, it was still difficult to remember that he was _allowed_ to see her like this, smug and heavy-lidded. That, somehow, being Carol’s friend had drifted into something more and that, between her and Tony and Jess, home had become the way limbs slotted together just right under covers they all still fought over ownership of. That, somewhere along the line, _team_ had become _family_ had become _us, us, unquestionably us._ “Hmm?”

Carol grinned and did something interesting with her hips. Yes, he was definitely tempted to blame Jess for that one. “Until then, Tony is always saying that he’s an excellent role model for all and sundry,” and then she was leaning in and Steve’s hands were in her hair and it fell around them when she pushed him back towards the pillows… 


End file.
